DIY | How to Make a Headboard

See it. Want it. Buy it Make it. This is something that we at PEC we are quite fond of. A few years back, Kristin made her own headboard and did an amazing job (home tour here). She is mighty inspiring when it comes to taking on big projects so when I mentioned I wanted to make my own headboard, she squealed (I think – she may have just said “cool!”, but in my mind she squealed). Anyway, being the good instructor that she is we were off to Home Depot in her dad’s gigantic truck to get some of the supplies. Oh, but first, here’s the finished product (costing a grand total of $53.43).

Supplies Breakdown: (note, these will be unique to the size of your bed, the look you’re going for, etc..)

“oh, hello workshop-I-didn’t-know-existed”
Our friend Dan’s basement. He’s a teacher so he automatically jumped into
teaching mode when explaining the saw to me.

Safety goggles!

Back in our living room, cutting the foam to the right length

Step 2: Glue the foam to the plywood. Make sure this is done in a well-vented area (even if it’s low odor). Also, make sure you have something around the edges of the plywood because the sprayer has a wide angle on it (I took the set up from the above photo, with the old sheet underneath, and moved it to the porch).

Step 3: Wrap the fabric around the plywood and staple it to the back. This step is a bit tricky and works best with two people. Optional: Apply an extra piece of fabric to the back to cover up the plywood. We opted out of this.

Caleb, stapling along the top

manly hands

When it came to the corners, I wrapped them like a present. By the way,
we’re watching The Sing Off. Love that show.

Step 4: Attach 2x4s to the back as legs. Make sure you have your measurements right. Each bed will be different.

There are 4, 3.5″ screws in each leg.

The edge where the foam meets the mattress height was secured by
pulling the fabric tight an securing with a few staples.

Step 5: Attach that baby! Since our bed is basically made of 2x4s, I got 4.5″ nut and bolt screws to go through the 2x4s on the headboard and the 2×4 that makes up the horizontal part of the back of the bed. Everything fit snug as a bug in a rug.

Using a nut and bolt (instead of normal screws) makes
breakdown easier for moving.